Google has not disappointed this year either with its top of the range smartphones, the models that arrived on the market with the Pixel 8 series. This certainly applies to the photographic experience.
Starting from the choice of the name, Google has always paid particular attention to the photographic experience with its smartphones. Pixels are there always distinct in a positive way in terms of photographic performance, thanks to the excellent combination of hardware sensors and software power dedicated to image processing.
And precisely in this context, some news has emerged regarding the Pixel 8 Pro, the largest of the Pixel 8 family. In fact, a shooting function has returned to the Pixel 8 Pro which we hadn’t seen each other for a few yearsprecisely since the market launch of Pixel 5.
We’re talking about the ability to shoot astrophotographs, that is, photos that require a very long exposure time, in the order of minutes, to take images of the starry sky, using the wide-angle sensor. This feature was present on Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a 5G in 2020Then removed from Google.
It seems that its removal was due to complaints from users, who reported a poor quality of images in astrophotography through the wide-angle sensor. In the last few hours, however, several users with Pixel 8 Pro have noticed that it is possible to take astrophotographs with the wide-angle sensor, a sign that Google is retraced his steps.
The same functionality would not be available for the standard variant of Pixel 8, a sign that Google is still paying attention to image quality. In fact, Pixel 8 has a 12 megapixel wide-angle sensor, similar to what we find on the Pixel 7 series, while the Pro model has a 12-megapixel wide-angle sensor. 48 megapixels.
The hypothesis is that Google exploits the pixel binning of Pixel 8 Pro to provide high quality even to astrophotographs taken with the wide-angle sensor of Pixel 8 Pro.
We remind you that the Astrophotography mode is a Pixel exclusive who use the Google Camera, and that to use it it is necessary to frame a starry sky without artificial lighting and place the device in a stable and firm position.
For those who don’t have a Pixel you can try installing one of the Google Camera ports, and see if the Astrophotography mode is accessible. There compatibility varies depending on the device model.
